Yellow Jack
by mamazano
Summary: A new story in the Scarlett & Giselle AU. Jack Sparrow has a plan that cannot fail... or can it? Set somewhere after CotBP, ignoring the sequels for the most part. Can be read alone but follows the Scarlett and Giselle series. No particular pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Written by: mamazano  
Title: Yellow Jack  
Rating: PG-13Characters: Jack, Gibbs, Scarlett & Giselle, Pierre and others  
Disclaimer: Disney owns them. Well, except for Thomas. He technically belongs to compassrose7577 .  
Oh, and Pierre. He's mine, all mine. I just like playing with them.

Summary: Jack has a plan that cannot fail. Or can it.

A/N: A new story in the S&G AU.

"Well, I think the idea is crazy!"

"Crazy? It's bloody brilliant, that's what it is!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Ladies, please!"

"You tell her, Josh. The idea is ludicrous."

"Like those stockings you're wearing."

"Why, I never!"

Gibbs looked back and forth at the two irate women and decided it was certainly crazy to remain any longer.

"I best be going," he said, sidling towards the door of the _Painted Lady_. "I'll just tell Jack you've changed your minds." He hurriedly banged open the door and set out down the muddy street towards the Tortuga harbor. Better to get away while he could, let Jack sort it out later.

"Josh, wait!" Giselle ran into the street, splashing mud on her new stockings. Turning, she stalked back inside, waggling a finger at Scarlett. "Now look what you've done!"

_"Me?"_ Scarlett folded her arms and huffed, "I am not the one crazy enough to think Jack's little plan would work in the first place." She looked down her nose at Giselle's mud splattered legs and added, "And you say _my _stockings are ludicrous."

"Why you…" Giselle picked up a box off the nearest display table and threw it at her. Unfortunately, the box contained a very expensive talc, imported all the way from France. Even more unfortunately, the owner of the shop happened to walk into the room at that exact moment.

"_Mon Dieu!_ What have you done!" Pierre scurried over, just as the two women locked into hand-to-hand combat. Scarlett, wielding a parasol, swung at Giselle, only to slip on the powdery floor and whack Pierre instead. The three of them tumbled, bringing another display of creams and lotions down with them, their fragrance filling the air as they smashed to the floor.

The tinkling of a bell sounded over the ensuing bedlam. Looking up, they found Jack Sparrow standing over them, mustache twitching in amusement.

"If I am not mistaken, this is exactly how I found you the day you two met. I hope you aren't going to make of habit of this."

"Jack!" The women scrambled to sit up, as Jack extended a helping hand. Pierre emerged from the bottom of the pile, hair white with talc and a fierce expression in his eyes.

"Habit?" Pierre whirled on the women. "You have ruined my shop. Look at this! It is a catastrophe! All my beautiful lotions!" He straighted with as much dignity as possible while covered in cream and pronounced, "You are both fired!"

"Fired?" The women cried in unison.

"Pierre! We didn't mean to…"

"We'll clean this up…"

"We'll…"

"Pay." Jack interrupted the clamoring women and pulled out a small pouch from his pocket. Jingling it in front of Pierre he asked, "How much are the damages?"

Pierre's eyes lit up at the sound of the jangling coins, but maintained his stance and said with a sniff, "If they stay, their wages will be docked accordingly."

"But Pierre, you barely pay us as it is!"

"I give you a roof over your heads. I feed you. What more do you want?"

Giselle turned to Jack in protest. "He gives us room and board, but we have to work on the side for any spending money. How does he expect us to buy new stockings?" She held out a muddy leg for Jack to see.

"That is why I am here. I have a proposition for the three of you." Jack looked around and added, "Didn't Gibbs tell you?"

"Tell us what?" Pierre asked, busily brushing his coat sleeves with a small brush. "I did not see the good Mr. Gibbous."

Scarlett sighed. "That is what started all…this." She waved a hand at the ruined shop. "He came here with some crazy plan…"

"Oi!"

"Sorry, Jack. But it _is_ crazy."

"Then you'll do it! I knew you couldn't resist."

"But… wait, I didn't…" Scarlett sputtered.

Giselle slapped her on a back, with perhaps a bit more force than needed. "Of course you did! It's the least we can do for Jack, him being so generous and all, paying for the mess you made."

"I made? Why you…!"

Jack leapt between the two women before they could resume their tussle. Holding them firmly by the arms he steered them towards stairs in the back of the shop. "Now, why don't you fine ladies go freshen up." He sniffed and wrinkling his nose, added, "Perhaps _less_ fresh might be better." He gave them both a little shove and turned to Pierre. "Now, I will be needed your assistance as well. Here is what we have to do…"


	2. Chapter 2

The crowd at the _Faithful Bride_ was as boisterous as always, full of noise and distractions, the perfect setting for a clandestine meeting. No one paid heed to the two men huddled at the back table, their earnest conversation interrupted only by the periodic replenishment of drink by the barmaid.

"And you're certain of the dates?"

"Absolutely. The _Mirage_ is scheduled to sail on the 30th."

"Friday. That gives us over a week. Plenty of time."

"I gather you spoke to the ladies and they were good with it?"

"Scarlett was her usual cautious self." Jack Sparrow sat back with a smirk, watching the flitting emotions on his friend's face.

Thomas sighed. "Scarlett."

"Been what? Two, three months since you've seen her?"

"Try six. Haven't been in Tortuga since I saw you last."

"Hmmm. Might want to watch yerself, mate. She's got a wicked right cross."

Thomas chuckled and rubbed his chin. "I'll keep that in mind. Does she know I'm here?"

Jack shook his head. "Thought it best not to mention it, until we weigh anchor. Don't need her changing her mind."

"Then I'd advise you to watch yourself as well," Thomas said, downing his drink in one gulp. "I best get back to the _Griselle_. We're set to sail at six bells on the night's tide. We'll rendezvous at Port Royal on Wednesday next."

The two men shook hands as they rose to go. Thomas turned and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Think she'll do it? After all this time she might… well, people change."

"She'll do it." Jack grinned. "No worries, mate. Scarlett will make you a beautiful bride."

"You want me to _what_?"

Scarlett stared in disbelief at the captain of the _Black Pearl_. If they weren't two days out of Tortuga without a speck of land in sight she'd have walked right off that ship, right then and there. _The audacity, the cheek, the bloody nerve…!_

"It's only temporary." Jack did a quick check around in case he had to beat a hasty retreat.

"You'll make a lovely bride, Letty," Giselle offered helpfully. "It's not like you don't like Captain Thomas. He's always been very kind, even saved my life."

"Then _you_ marry him!" Scarlett turned on her head and stomped off to the great cabin where she and Giselle were staying on the voyage to Port Royal.

"What's gotten into her?" Jack groused. "It's a simple matter, really. It's not as if she doesn't like Thomas, she cries enough over him."

"Ah, but the great Capitaine, he does not know true amour, the affairs of the heart." Pierre minced across the deck. "The woman, she needs to be wooed, to feel the flutter of love in her heart."

"Bullocks."

"Perhaps if the good Capitaine Thomas were to bring her the sweet bouquet, make love to her with words, flatter her with the fine chocolates…"

"We're not talking love here; it's a bloody business transaction for gods' sake!" Jack threw his hands up in exasperation.

Giselle patted his arm. "I'll talk to her. You know how Scarlett is, stubborn as a mule. She really _does_ like Thomas."

"Women," Jack huffed, watching the shapely Giselle hurry across the deck.

"Bad luck to have a woman on board," Gibbs offered.

"I am beginning to see the wisdom in that, Mr. Gibbs," Jack said, retreating to the helm. The ship pitched and groaned. He rubbed the wheel and murmured. "They won't be staying, luv. Just you and me, as always."

The melodious voice of Pierre wafted upward from the deck below.

"_He_ won't be staying either," Jack added.

The _Pearl_ fluttered her sails in response.

Captain Joshua Hughes stopped outside the Custom House in Port Royal and smiled widely, breathing deep the salty sea air. He tucked the export documents, all duly signed and stamped, inside his coat pocket and turned his steps towards the bustling docks. He'd cleared his last hurdle and was set to sail on the morning's tide. If all went well, he stood to make a tidy profit, a tidy profit indeed.

The sloop _Mirage _had set sail from Philadelphia two weeks prior, laden with a cargo of fish, flour and furs, which he'd sold in Barbados for hard cash – gold and silver. There he had obtained clearance papers for a load of English casks, but with no weights indicated. From there he had then passed on to the French colony of Martinique, where he'd purchased his return cargo of molasses and rum, for a much lower price than either Barbados or Jamaica could offer, filling the empty British casks that had been cleared in Barbados. A regular, albeit illegal route, but one that had become quite commonplace since the passage of the Molasses Act.

It wasn't just the evasion of the duties imposed by this Act on foreign sugar and molasses which made this voyage so profitable though. The real profit to be made, was on the other cargo stowed away – the hidden bales of Holland linens and French silks, the casks of French brandies and pipes of claret – prohibited goods that were in great demand in the Northern colonies.

Feeling smugly satisfied with the venture, and with hours to kill before setting sail, the ship master decided to quench his thirst in one of the many taverns lining the streets near the quay. Chuckling to himself, he chose the aptly titled _Jolly Taxpayer. _Yes, if all went well, he stood to make a tidy profit, indeed.

"There, 'e's in that tavern over there."

"You are sure?"

"Followed 'im all the ways from the Custom's 'ouse didn't I?"

Captain Thomas eyed the grungy lad dubiously before handing over several shillings. "If you're lying I'll have your…" his voice trailed off as the boy lit out for the docks, not waiting to hear the rest.

Sighing, Thomas turned and entered the tavern, ducking beneath the low doorway and peered around the low-ceilinged room filled with a miasma of oil lantern and tobacco smoke. _How do I get myself into these things? Damn Jack Sparrow, that's how. Man could sell a glass of water to a drowning man._ Mentally eliminating several nearby patrons, all too tattered and drunk to be a ship's master, Thomas settled on a man sitting alone at a table near the window, the feeble light filtering through layers of grime revealed a man of some stature and wealth, judging from his fashionable attire.

Procuring a bottle of rum and two tankards from the bar, Thomas made his way across the room and kicked the empty chair across from the man. "Mind if I join you, Captain Hughes?"

Hughes looked up in surprise. "Do I know you?"

Thomas laughed and sat down, pouring a generous amount of rum into both tankards. Pushing one towards the startled sea-captain he laughed. "Not yet, anyways. Name's Thomas. Heard you were setting sail for the Northern colonies. Philadelphia, to be exact."

Captain Hughes sized Thomas up with an experienced eye. "You're a sailor, I see. If you're looking for a berth you'll have to speak to my quartermaster."

"Not exactly. Looking for passage for me and my bride."

"Never take on passengers. Company rule. Sorry." Captain Hughes stood up abruptly.

"Oh that is most unfortunate. You see, my wife is most desperate to reach Philadelphia as soon as possible, to visit her ailing mother. Yours is the only ship departing this week." Thomas pulled out a leather pouch and poured the contents on the table. "I'm willing to pay. Quite well, in fact."

At the sight of the mound of gold, the other man sank back down in his chair.

"I might be willing to bend the rules slightly," he said slowly, licking his lips.

"Excellent!" Thomas raked the coins back into the pouch and tucked it into his pocket. "I will need passage for three, paid in full when we make port."

"Three?"

"My wife refuses to travel without her lady's maid." He stood up and stuck out his hand. "Then we have an accord?"

Captain Hughes stood as well and shook hands. "Agreed. We sail on the morning's tide. Blue sloop, _Mirage_. If you're late, we sail without you."

"Oh, trust me. We wouldn't miss this for the world."


End file.
